Even if you're not that familiar with Spanish cuisine, chances are good that you've heard of tapas, a wide variety of small-plate appetizers that are served as snacks in bars in Spain. In 2008 I visited Boston and ate at a wonderful tapas bar called Estragon with my blogging friend Lydia and her husband Ted. The next day we passed a bookstore where I spotted The Tapas Cookbook on a bargain table for $5.99 and bought it as a fun souvenir of the trip.

This Grilled Bell Pepper Tapas Salad with Olives and Capers was adapted from a recipe that book, and it's a perfect little small-plate salad to accompany light summer meals. Another plus for this as a late-summer salad is that bell peppers of all colors are usually plentiful and inexpensive at farmers markets this time of year. And please don't be intimidated by the idea of grilling bell peppers; roasting red bell peppers on a barbecue grill couldn't be easier!

My version of the salad bumps up the flavor of capers by adding a little caper brine to the dressing, and I also use a generous amount of fresh marjoram, an herb that I really started to love after my sister Sandee gave me the recipe for Marinated Tomato Salad with Parsley and Marjoram Dressing. If you don't have access to fresh marjoram, I think basil or oregano would both work in this.

I used regular black olives from a can, but if you want to splurge on imported Spanish olives, the salad could only get better. (I'm sorry to report that I could find no mention of this cookbook online, which makes me even more happy that I snapped it up when I saw it!)

I used a mixture of red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, but you can use any combination of colors that you find.

Then combine the roasted pepper strips, olives, capers, and dressing. You can serve it right away, but this is also a perfect dish to make ahead and let marinate at room temperature until you're ready to serve it.

Preheat barbecue grill to high. Cut the bell peppers into fourths, trim curled ends and cut out the seeds. Place peppers on the grill skin side down, making sure not to put them too close together. Grill peppers until skins are very charred, about 20-25 minutes, depending on your grill. As individual peppers become nicely blackened, remove them from the grill and place in a plastic or glass bowl.

When all the peppers are charred and placed in the bowl, cover it with cling-wrap and let peppers steam for about 15 minutes. Then peel off skins and discard, and cut peppers into short thick strips. (I cut each quarter pepper into crosswise strips.)

Put olives into a colander and let them drain. Spoon out 2 T capers into a small strainer; then rinse the capers and let them drain. Wash marjoram (or other herb of your choice), dry, and chop.

Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, caper brine, minced garlic, salt, and pepper to make the dressing. Combine grilled pepper strips, olives, capers, and dressing in a plastic or glass bowl. The salad can be served right away or allowed to marinate for several hours at room temperature until you're ready to serve it.

If you wanted to make this into a more substantial side-dish salad I think chopped fresh tomatoes or cucumbers would make a nice addition.

This kept well in the refrigerator for several days. Let come to room temperature again before serving.

South Beach Diet / Low-Carb Diet Suggestions:
Everything in this salad is a perfect low-carb ingredient, suitable for all phases of the South Beach Diet and most other low-carb eating plans, including Paleo or Whole 30.

I chose the South Beach Diet to manage my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, points, or fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you. Or if you're a member of Yummly, you can use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information there.

More Tasty Ideas for Grilled or Roasted Bell Peppers:
(Recipes from other blogs not always South Beach Diet friendly; check ingredients.)

(Want even more recipes? I find these recipes from other blogs using Food Blog Search.)

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I love tapas, such a fun way to enjoy lots of little bites with a nice group of friends. In fact, when we eat out, I often just order a variety of appetizers for dinner. That way I get to taste lots of different little dishes or "tapas.!" Like you that you tried making this tapas with fresh marjoram and briny caper juice.

Thanks for the nice words about my photos. Unfortunately your site uses a size that is different than all the other photo submission sites, and I'm not going to create an extra size of each photo just for one site.

I'm so happy you're taking the time to comment on Kalyn's Kitchen! I love hearing from people who stop by, especially if you're sharing feedback or asking questions about a recipe I've posted here.

I've recently changed my comment settings so people can comment without signing in, but you will need to check the box to show you're a live person, and comments on older posts won't show up until I publish them. Thanks for understanding!

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